Villain Family’s Strongest Butler - Chapter 37

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 40

The Grand Duke had returned.
He didn’t come back to the bedchamber until just before dawn broke.
I lay sprawled across the bed, stealing glances at the sky beyond the window.
It was still dark, but within the hour the sun would surely rise.
‘So he really won’t sleep at all before the next meeting.’
After the first conference ended, a rest period had been granted before the second one began.
The Grand Duke had squandered that rest period going off to who-knows-where.
‘If he collapses like this, what am I supposed to…’
No, wait. That monster of a Grand Duke, collapsing?
Hah, that’s beyond imagining.
‘Still, looking after the Grand Duke’s health is my responsibility as steward of this household, so I ought to at least pretend to care.’
Maybe I’ll have him drink some apple honey tea before the conference.
I adjusted the morning schedule while listening to the sound of the Grand Duke rustling about in the adjacent chamber.
And then, moments later—
All the faint noises from the next room ceased.
‘Hmm?’
I sat up in bed.
What is this? Was he asleep?
‘Ah, he’s suppressing his Aura again.’
The Grand Duke had a habit of concealing his Aura whenever the mood struck him.
While eating, while training with the sword, while traveling by carriage—he hid it constantly.
It was a survival strategy of sorts for the Grand Duke.
He could guard against assassins’ surprise attacks, evade pursuit, slip away from shadows tailing him.
After practicing concealment so relentlessly, he had reached a level where he suppressed his Aura without even thinking about it.
‘True—for someone in his position, constantly hiding his Aura and erasing his tracks is necessary.’
A cunning Grand Duke indeed.
I’d thought he spent his days buried under mountains of documents, but he was training in secret.
‘Underhanded Grand Duke. Watching me train all this time, yet keeps his own practice hidden.’
Why does he hide his training so carefully?
An unexpected sense of betrayal crept into my thoughts.
Then—
Knock, knock.
‘What?’
I turned my head at the sound of knocking on the door.
“Who is it?”
“Me.”
“……”
A terse reply, courtesy utterly abandoned, yet somehow pleasant to the ear.
There was no doubt—it was the Grand Duke.
Startled, I hurried down from the bed and opened the door.
Standing before me was the colossal Grand Duke himself. Though I’d expected it, the reality of him visiting my room left me somewhat dazed.
I looked up at him, tilting my head in confusion.
“Your Highness?”
“……”
The Grand Duke gazed down at me silently. I met his violet eyes and spoke.
“Your Highness, if you needed something, you could have rung for me. I would have come at once—”
“How can I summon a sick person to wait on me?”
The Grand Duke cut off my words with a cold tone.
Sick? Who’s sick? Over a brief headache I swayed a little.
Anyone watching would think I’d contracted some fatal disease.
‘Right, I did lose consciousness for a moment there.’
Well, let’s say I simply fell asleep from exhaustion.
I sighed and spoke.
“I really am not ill, I promise. Look, I’m perfectly fine.”
As I flailed my arms about, the Grand Duke sighed.
“Here, take this.”
The Grand Duke held out a small wooden box he’d been carrying in one hand.
I took it from him and asked, “What is this?”
“What is this?”
“Medicine.”
Medicine? I studied the Grand Duke’s expression, then quickly opened the box’s lid.
Inside lay a glass vial. And within that transparent vial, filling it completely, was something that—
“They’re pills?”
I withdrew the vial from the box and shook it gently. A clear, crisp tinkling echoed as the pills clattered against the glass.
The round pills were the size of a pinky nail, colored a deep emerald green.
What was strange was that a faint golden shimmer clung to the edges of each pill.
It was subtle enough that an ordinary eye would miss it, but someone of my skill could discern it easily.
‘Hm… but…’
I’d never seen pills like these before, so I couldn’t be sure.
But this box, this vial…
‘I feel like I’ve seen these somewhere…’
Where was it? I retraced my memories for a moment. Then, suddenly—
—”The elixir you mentioned, Your Highness. At your request, the High Priest took it out specially. There are limits to three questions. Beyond that, the World Tree’s power will likely cause you to lose consciousness; your body won’t be able to bear it.”
That’s it! The wooden box and vial the priest had brought with the elixir that day!
‘Yes! That’s right! This inscription carved into the box lid is identical!’
I looked at him with dawning suspicion and asked, “You… you didn’t bring this from the Temple, did you?”
“You have keen eyes.”
The Grand Duke answered flatly.
“One pill a day. Take it in front of me.”
“…What?!”
No, what… what sort of medicine is this?!
Is it like the Elixir of Truth, forcing me to speak truthfully again?
‘So you plan to question me about the truth once a day, Grand Duke?’
When I shot him a look of suspicion, he finally seemed to realize the misunderstanding and opened his mouth.
“I don’t know what you’re imagining, but… it’s headache medicine.”
What? I blinked rapidly.
“Headache… medicine?”
“Yes. I asked the High Priest directly to make it. It won’t eliminate headaches entirely, but he said it will ease the pain.”
“…”
“Take one pill a day consistently. You’re a busy steward, so you might forget to take it. So every night before bed, take it in front of me.”
“…”
“We can’t have you collapsing again.”
“…”
“The medicine contains rare ingredients, so it would be wasteful not to take it properly.”
“…”
I stood there staring up at the Grand Duke, my mouth hanging open.
‘The Grand Duke is awfully talkative today. …No, but more than that.’
The moment the two-day conference ended, he went straight to the Temple without even resting?
‘To obtain medicine for me to take?’
And he asked that impossibly busy High Priest to make it?
‘No, Grand Duke… why would you go to such trouble…’
Then it came back to me.
—”Do you… remember me?”
—”It would be good to recover your memories as soon as possible, that’s all.”
The Grand Duke’s voice echoed in my mind—his gaze and tone directed not at me, but at someone else inhabiting this body.
Ah, I see now.
‘I almost misunderstood.’
The Grand Duke wasn’t concerned about me. He was worried about the original inhabitant of this body.
This beautiful, beloved form mustn’t be damaged in any way.
‘I nearly got moved for nothing.’
I cleared my throat and unscrewed the vial’s cap, removing one pill.
“Thank you, Your Highness. You’ve shown me such consideration.”
“…”
Here I go, shall I? Watch carefully, Grand Duke.

I popped the pill into my mouth in front of the Grand Duke and swallowed it down.
‘Gack.’
Wait—it wasn’t going down.
The pill wasn’t smooth, and it caught somewhere in my throat, creeping down inch by inch.
‘Should’ve had water with it!’
A belated regret.
The Grand Duke, watching me quietly, clicked his tongue and nudged me inside the room.
Then he poured water into a cup and handed it to me.
“Ah, thank you…….”
I drank the water while stealing glances at him.
‘He’s sharp, I’ll give him that.’
It would’ve been fine if he’d just left and I’d fetched water myself later.
A pill stuck in your throat doesn’t kill you, after all…….
I set down the cup after drinking. The Grand Duke was already heading toward the door when he spoke.
“Rest.”
I wiped the water from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand.
“Yes, Your Highness. Thank you.”
…….
I stood there in silence for a long time, watching the door through which the Grand Duke had disappeared.

***

The next morning.
The second High Nobles Council meeting convened.
This time, they said, a conclusion had to be reached no matter what—whether it took two days or a week.
‘He couldn’t have gotten proper rest yesterday.’
Yet my worries proved baseless. The Grand Duke emerged from his chambers looking perfectly fine and attended the High Nobles Council meeting again.
‘As expected of the Grand Duke.’
Monstrous stamina.
‘How long will this one take? Surely not a full week?’
I was starting to worry about the Grand Duke’s health, and I missed seeing Riel and Anna.
‘I wonder how that furry ball is doing, too.’
Perhaps thanks to my worries, the High Nobles Council meeting ended that very evening.
“Good work, everyone. To think it would be settled so quickly.”
“Settled quickly? If Grand Duke Balot hadn’t stepped in directly, we’d have been tied up for a week, a month, I—… *ahem*. Well. It’s ended well, so that’s what matters.”
“Indeed it is. Ha ha! It seems the Grand Duke had pressing business. Why else would he have hurried us along so…….”
The conference room doors opened, and the High Nobles spilled out. As they filed past each other trading remarks, attendants guided them to their quarters.
The Grand Duke emerged last, at his leisure.
And the next day.
News was announced that an Alliance between the Kadea Empire and the Tenasis Empire had been concluded.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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